For Sprint iPhone enthusiast yesterday was a day of good news, it was finally confirmed the third largest carrier in the U.S. would now carry the iPhone.

As promised, Apple shows off its latest iPhone Tuesday at “Let’s Talk iPhone Event”, and although the new handset was packed with new features and hardware like a new chip and improved camera, the general reaction was less than spectacular. Many had hoped to see the new rumored iPhone 5 released but this was not the case.

 On the carrier front, Sprint will become the third U.S. wireless provider to carry the iPhone, but it won’t come easy for the company. Like the other carriers, Sprint will have to buy the phones for around US$600 each, and then sell them at the suggested retail prices, starting at $199 with a two-year contract.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Sprint — the third-largest carrier in the U.S. and in a more difficult financial position relative to rivals AT&T and Verizon — made a commitment to purchase more than 30 million iPhones over the next four years. Neither Apple nor Sprint has confirmed that number.

The move has the potential to be a lifesaver for Sprint, especially as future iPhones with more advanced wireless capabilities come along. However, the initial capital could put a strain on current balance sheets.

John Feland, CEO of Argus Insights, said “It would make sense strategically for both companies. Sprint has the most mature and widespread true 4G network in the U.S. They are in desperate need of a winner. Apple needs a 4G network to push new experiences out to the iPhone faithful, especially in the face of competition heating up from Amazon.”

It’s a risky move for the company, but it’s the kind that can pay off well, especially when the company is in the position of going big or going home.

Apple recently updated iMovie, which was for the iPhone and iPod originally, to a universal application. Now it will support the iPad2 and also brings new themes and HD sharing directly to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo and CCN iReport. If you aren’t sure what iMovie is, it’s a movie editing application that is part of the iLife suite of digital lifestyle applications that allows Apple Macintosh users to create movies from several different sources including digital video cameras, DV-encoded files and pictures.

iMovie works effortlessly with other Apple applications including QuickTime, iDVD, iPhoto, iWeb, iTunes and with other Mac OS X applications. Below are several other features and benefits you can expect with this application.

• Universal app designed for iPad 2, iPhone 4, and iPod touch (4th generation).
• Multi-Touch Precision Editor (iPad only).
• Multitrack audio editing with 8 themed soundtracks and over 50 bundled sound effects.
• Audio recording directly into the timeline.
• Audio waveforms (iPad only).
• Three new themes — Neon, Simple, and CNN iReport.
• HD sharing directly to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and CNN iReport.
• AirPlay support for sharing to Apple TV (compatible only with second-generation Apple TV; requires iOS 4.3 or later).
• Project transfer to your computer and compatible iOS devices through iTunes.
• Ability to add titles on photos.
• Option to add fade-in from black and fade-out to black.
• Numerous enhancements, including trimming in Video Browser, in-use markers, video rotation, and more.

If you have already used this application let us know what you think. If not, and you plan on doing so we want to know the results. Several say this is one fantastic application for video editing. What do you think?

Download it here for $4.99

Source: Iphoneblog

The latest product found at Boxwave is a Keyboard Buddy case for the iPhone 4. This provides your iPhone with a physical keyboard through a blue-tooth connection, something most users want while others may not be interested. These cases are available now so read more to learn how to get one.

The design and durability of the case, according to sources, fit the phone quite well. The protecting layer on the case comes as a rubber coating instead of hard plastic. This provides a great amount of grip while holding the phone in your hands.The only disadvantage that may bother you or may not is it’s weight. When put with the phone it does tend to be a bit heavy. This is something the sources got used to after a few days though.

The keyboard seems to be impressive in every area but the layout. Some of you may be able to adjust, as most of us do get used to new things, but others may not like the setup. You can see how it’s made in the image above. However sources say the keys seem sturdy, reliable and very responsive.

As with most products, here are pros and cons to getting this case and getting used to it. There are also many benefits to using it, according to your daily duties, wants and needs.

Boxwave, if you’ve never heard of them, has a 100% customer satisfaction policy that includes a 30-day window for returns. If you want to try one out for yourself, click here to do so. You can get this for $69.95 with free shipping in the U.S.

Source: BGR

For quite a while now, Walt Mossberg at The Wall Street Journal has been testing the two iPhones, one on each network of course. Keywords: each network. The phones themselves are essentially identical, except for the fact that they have different radios inside to accommodate the two carriers’ differing network technologies. Verizon is CDMA and AT&T is GSM. Most of us know the difference.

During his tests, Walt Mossberg found that the Verizon iPhone has much better voice calls, but he says there’s a trade off in data speed. We’ll get to that part. He continues to say “I’m here to say: Yes, there are some major benefits to having your iPhone on Verizon, but, as with all good things, there are also trade-offs.”

Over a period of nine days, Mossberg found that he only had three dropped calls on Verizon, but guess what, they were each with an AT&T iPhone customer who didn’t have good service. He doesn’t blame Verizon for this one. He says the calls were crystal clear, including speakerphone and blue-tooth calls. With the AT&T model, in the same areas, he had several dropped calls.

Keep in mind though that during his first day of testing, neither devices functioned as they should have. He at first had several Verizon calls that dropped out for a few seconds before recovering and terrible battery life. The AT&T iphone did the same thing following the initial setup forcing him to reboot. After he did this to each of them, he was free from the instant, often dropped calls on newly activated devices and both had great battery lives. We wonder why this happened? What do you think?

So you’re asking, what about the trade-off Mossberg spoke of? The biggest one he mentions is data speed. That’s what every smartphone user looks for, well most of them. He performed several speed tests with the two devices, primarily in the Washington area and a part of a day at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Keep reading, it gets good.

Mossberg found that, despite a few Verizon victories here and there, AT&T’s network averaged 46% faster at download speeds and 24% faster at upload speeds. He says, “This speed difference was noticeable while doing tasks like downloading large numbers of emails, or waiting for complicated Web pages to load. AT&T’s speeds varied more while Verizon’s were more consistent, but overall, AT&T was more satisfying at cellular data.”

We aren’t here bashing either carrier, just stating the facts from a well trusted journalist from Wall Street. What we can say that’s extremely useful to AT&T customers right now, that Verizon doesn’t offer, is surfing the web and making a voice call at the same time. However, Verizon has plans to have certain models with that capability. It still is something AT&T can say they have that Verizon doesn’t.

Verizon isn’t the best everywhere you go and neither is AT&T. In the D.C. area, Mossberg had issues with the Verizon model switching from 3G to 2G mode. It had no affect on voice quality but did slow down the data.

Mossberg says, “Bottom line: In my tests, the new Verizon version of the iPhone did much better at voice calling than the AT&T version, and offers some attractive benefits, like unlimited data and a wireless hot-spot capability. But if you really care about data speed, or travel overseas, and AT&T service is tolerable in your area, you may want to stick with AT&T.”

Now what we want to know, will the iPhone 5 be completely different or just slightly updated? What changes do you think should happen and what do you think will happen? Let us know your thoughts on this article in the comments box below.

Source: WSJ

UPDATE:

Several customers of Verizon Wireless reported difficult times while trying to order their iPhone’s last night? Were you one of them? Apparently the website to order online went down around 4AM. We can see that at least 6,000 orders were successfully processed so they had to have fixed it quickly. At least, the order numbers went as high as 6,000. Do you think that’s how many they sold?

The iPhone 4 on Verizon Wireless retails for $199 for 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model with a new or qualified upgrade with two-year agreement.

Did you have a successful order or were you driven away by the difficulty? Let us know if you are one of these customers. We want to know what happened and the details. Discuss in the comment section below.

END OF UPDATE:

Source: VZW

Reminders are coming up all over the place so why not here too? Tomorrow is the big day for Verizon to allow customers to pre-order their devices, starting at 3AM EST. Apple has also recently confirmed they are taking pre-orders for the device as well.

Here are the details on Verizon’s requirements for ordering the device:
Only existing Verizon Wireless subscribers are eligible for pre-orders, meaning current customers only. If you are wanting to purchase a new line of service with Verizon and their iPhone, you will have to wait until the phone becomes available to the general public on February 10th.

Apple’s details are simple, pre-orders are on a first come, first served basis and are available to current Verizon Wireless subscribers only.

Take a look at Apple’s latest press release below:

CUPERTINO, California—February 2, 2011—Apple® today announced an exclusive opportunity for Verizon Wireless’ 94 million customers to pre-order iPhone® 4 online beginning on Thursday, February 3 through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com) and at www.verizonwireless.com/iphone. Due to high demand, customer orders will be fulfilled on a first come, first served basis.

Beginning on Wednesday, February 9, all qualified customers will be able to order an iPhone 4 on Verizon through the Apple Store (www.apple.com) for delivery or reserve for in-store pick up beginning February 10.

Beginning at 7 a.m. local time on Thursday, February 10, iPhone 4 on Verizon will be available to all qualified customers at Apple’s retail stores. iPhone 4 will also be available at more than 2,000 Verizon Wireless Communication Stores nationwide.

iPhone 4 is the most innovative phone in the world, featuring Apple’s stunning Retina display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone resulting in super crisp text, images and video, and FaceTime®, which makes video calling a reality. iPhone 4 also features a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, HD video recording, Apple’s A4 chip and a beautiful glass and stainless steel design like no other mobile phone. Verizon Wireless customers will also enjoy new Personal Hotspot capabilities allowing them to use iPhone 4 to connect up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices.

Pricing & Availability
iPhone 4 on the Verizon Wireless network will be available for a suggested retail price of $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model with a new two year agreement. iPhone 4 will be available through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. iPhone 4 will also be available at more than 2,000 Verizon Wireless Communication Stores nationwide, online at www.verizonwireless.com/iphone, select retail partners, and by calling 1-800-2 JOIN IN.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

Source: BGR

In a previous story this month we talked about a company manufacturing CDMA iPhones.  Well the latest is a story out of Bloomberg stating the iPhone will be on VZW in January 2011.

“Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. mobile-phone company, will start selling Apple Inc.’s iPhone next year, ending AT&T Inc.’s exclusive hold on the smartphone in the U.S., two people familiar with the plans said.

The device will be available to customers in January, according to the people, who declined to be named because the information isn’t public.”

Remember, converting an iPhone from GSM to CDMA is not easy, so that’s probably what is taking so long.  Also, if you recall, ATT let you upgrade to the iPhone 4 six months early, so they are really trying to lock people into contracts, perhaps on the heels of a VZW release?

It has been widely rumored that ATT and Apple renegotiated their contract to allow ATT to get all of the iPhone 4 contracts they could, then a few months later VZW would release a version.  Our very own Courtney1985, who works for Verizon, has also confirmed this.

I personally know a lot of people who love the iPhone but hate ATT.  Even on these forums, it seems over half the iComplaints are because of ATT and not iPhone related at all.

Apple also may need to address the signal problems we’ve all heard about so hopefully the VZW version will be free of it.

If the iPhone 4 comes to VZW, will you be getting one?  You could actually receive calls and not have them drop every other minute!  VZW stands to make a lot of money on this, as we know the iPhone 4 sold 1.7 million units in 3 days, even with all the ordering problems people faced.

Thoughts?

Published on behalf of Ticklemepinks.

Yes, the iPhone 4 was released yesterday in retail stores across the US and some people are already pointing out issues. Some have already broken the phone due to glass being on both the screen and the back cover or many are saying if held a certain way that you will lose bars (reception).

John Rettinger of tech blog site Technobuffalo.com has shot a video trying to replicate this problems, which he manages to do. Initially when he first did an unboxing video he tried to reproduce the problems to no avail but later due to comments on his youtube channel he was told he wasn’t holding it the right way.

During his next youtube video seen HERE you can see once held a particular way you will lose your reception bars at about 1 bar per every 2 seconds, then he makes a call and does the same thing which results in a call drop. That being said, no phone comes without it’s bugs/issues, and Apple might have a firmware patch they need to work on in the near future.

According to Engadget, Apple’s official response is that you’re holding the phone the wrong way or to get a case.

Their official statement:
Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases.

I’ve had issues with some phones getting a worse signal when holding the phone a certain way, but I’ve hardly ever had it completely lose service. If I take my Nexus One in an area where I have 3-4 bars of At&t service (similar to the YouTube video above), and cup my hand over the bottom of the phone (where the antenna is), I MIGHT lose 1 bar, but I’ve never gone from a nearly full signal all the way down to nothing. Sure, most people aren’t going to hold their phone that way, but it still seems like a major design flaw.

The guys over at iFixit and Chipworks have done some excellent teardown work on the Apple iPhone 4 and gotten the full scoop as far as the materials and specs are concerned.

First let’s take a look at the outside (pictures courtesy of iFixit).:

“The rugged stainless steel bezels around the iPhone 4’s perimeter double as both structural supports and antennas to boost reception…  The front glass panel of the iPhone is constructed of Corning Gorilla Glass, a chemically strengthened alkali-aluminosilicate thin sheet glass that is reported to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic.”

Next we take a look at the battery and some of the inner components, as you know the iPhone 4 is renowned for the low battery consumption and high performance of its hardware, packed into the thinnest shell a smart-phone has ever housed.

“Luckily, the battery can be easily removed once the back panel assembly is out of the way…  The 3.7V 1420 mAh Li-Polymer battery allows for up to 7 hours of talk time on 3G or up to 14 hours on 2G… The battery connector is different than the one in the 3G and 3GS. Fortunately, the battery is not soldered to the logic board.”

Next let’s take a look at the gizzards of this thing! The next 2 pics show the inside of the phone with an interesting configuration.  This confirms that the iPhone does house 512MB RAM which is the same as the Evo and HD2 and twice the RAM of the iPad.

“No EMI shield will stand between us and the innards of this iPhone 4!…The logic board is heavily embedded under wires and EMI shields…The increase in RAM allows for a larger amount of cached data allowing for a smoother and faster user experience…In our brief usage, we did notice that the phone is considerably warmer on the right side. This makes sense, as the logic board is located entirely along the right side of the phone…Behold a beauty in the iPhone 4: a rear-facing 5 MP camera with 720p video at 30 FPS, tap to focus feature, and LED flash…”

“The improved audio chamber aids in clarifying sounds leaving the iPhone, including calls via speakerphone as well as music played through the speaker inside this housing…In what can only be described as a work of genius, Apple has integrated the UMTS, GSM, GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth antennas into the stainless steel inner frame…The dual purpose stainless steel inner frame/antenna assembly addresses possibly the two biggest flaws concerning previous iterations of the iPhone: continuous dropped calls and lack of reception…Apple has gone a step further and tuned the phone to utilize whichever network band is less congested or has the least interference for the best signal quality, regardless of the actual signal strength. Early reports suggest this feature, while buggy in its early stages, will greatly improve the phone’s reliability on AT&T’s fragile network…”

Now let’s take a look at the A4 chip.  We finally see exactly how this thing is made up!

“Replacing the Samsung S5PC100 ARM A8 600 MHz CPU used in the 3GS, the new iPhone uses the 1 GHz ARM Cortex A8 core, much like its bigger sibling, the iPad…  The A4 is actually much more than just a processor— it’s a Package on Package, or PoP. In fact, there are three silicon dies inside the A4!…  This is a cross-section of the iPhone’s ARM processor + RAM package. Click here to see it in its full, 2854×313 glory...  Having the RAM so close to the processor both reduces latency—making RAM access faster—and cuts power consumption, helping your battery last longer…  The A4 has three layers: Two layers of RAM (Samsung K4X1G323PE), and one layer containing the actual microprocessor…  This Package-on-Package construction gives Apple the flexibility to source the RAM from any manufacturer they want—they’re not locked into Samsung…  The new Samsung Wave S8500 smartphone uses the same Cortex A8 core!…

Now let’s take a look at some other parts and specs.

“Just to the left of the A4 package, the AGD1 is the new 3 axis gyroscope that we believe is designed and manufactured by ST Micro for Apple. The package marks on this device do not appear to be the currently available commercial part, L3G4200D. The commercial version of this gyroscope is yet to be released — Apple got first dibs on it…STMicro STM33DH 3-axis accelerometer…AKM8975 – newest magnetic sensor that promises to improve the performance over the prior generation….Texas Instruments 343S0499 Touch Screen Controller…we find the second microphone, which is used to cut out ambient noise and improve sound quality when talking on the phone….”

Last we’ll take a look at the Mics on this thing.

“Apple is following in the footsteps of the Nexus One by using dual microphones to help improve audio quality and suppress background noise…  Interestingly, the two microphones are positioned at the two far ends of the phone. The microphone at the top of the iPhone is most likely utilized for capturing background noise to be analyzed by internal circuitry and used to cancel any noise put into the main microphone other than the user’s voice…”

So what do you think?

Impressed yet?

Not so much?

What are your thoughts on the hardware of the device?  We have had lots of discussion on the software pros and cons.  Would you love to see an Android device running this hardware?

Posted by Volunteer Newsie Ticklemepinks!

Despite the recent cancellations of pre-orders due to problems with AT&T and Apple, the majority of the pre-orders have been sent out (estimated 600,000 handsets) for the June 24th release which are now leaving people who didn’t pre-order with the question of “Can I upgrade?” Well I’m here to break it down for you.

So if you are eligible for an upgrade you will be paying $199 for the 16GB and $299 for the 32GB version, the standard upgrade rate for a 2 year contract

If you currently have an iPhone 3GS you and it ends within this year You can get it for the upgrade price as the same: $199 for a 16GB and $299 for a 32GB.

Now in some cases if you have less than 23 months left and are over the requirement to qualify by the end of the year, (depending on timely bill payments and spending limits on the account) you can get an “early upgrade” price of $299 16GB/ $399 32GB ($100 more than subsidized price for a two year contract)

And If you aren’t a current iPhone user, you’re basically at square one, either pay full price of $399 16GB/ $499 32GB or wait until your eligible.

So I hope I cleared this up for anyone who was lost, dazed, or confused. Because I know the Mobile dept. at my job (Best Buy) doesn’t even know the deal.

Thanks to a tip from ‘geeker darren.wlsn1 we’ve got word of brighthand reporting Pegatron Technology is going to start manufacturing CDMA handsets in Shanghai and get them over to the states in time for a Q4 release this year.

During this year’s World-Wide Developers Conference (WWDC), there were many rumors afloat regarding a Verizon iPhone, but Steve Jobs didn’t comment one hint as to the validity of these rumors.

It’s no secret that AT&T has has major problems with their network both dropping calls and managing data, and have even started tiered prices and capping data.  A Verizon and/or Sprint release would be cataclysmic in the mobile world, and the sales of the device could even surpass Android once again.

We have heard rumors of CDMA iPhones before, and have yet to see anything concrete!

If this is the real deal, will the people on Sprint/VZW jump ship and grab a new iPhone 4 on their network?

macstories.net has released the following graphic showing the iPhone 4 has 512MB of RAM, twice the amount of the 3GS and the iPad.

Those of you who own either device knows how fast and smooth they run, with twice the RAM and the A4 chip this phone looks to be devoid of lag time, coupled with the fact that the reports are that iOS 4.0 is much smoother and more efficient than any previous iPhone OS.

If Sprint adds this to their arsenal along with the Galaxy S and the Evo, and VZW to compliment their Droid armada, then this will be a huge market push for CDMA as well as Apple.

There were previous reports that Apple and AT&T have renegotiated their exclusive contract with the iPhone in the U.S.

What do you think about this? If you’re on Sprint or VZW would you want this added? If on T-Mobile or AT&T will you jump over to CDMA?